BTVS: Alternate season 3: Episode 12, THE FALLOUT
by Tharpdevenport
Summary: Following where season 3 episode The Wish left off, we follow a evilbefallen Sunnydale, fesh out of Slayers and under The Master's control.
1. Default Chapter

Episode 12 of the alternate season 3: "The Fallout"  
  
Giles grasps Anya's pendant and places it on the counter top quickly. He reaches for a blunt object and holds it over the crystal ready to strike.  
  
"Trusting fool. What makes you think the other world is any better than this one?"  
  
Almost teared up and in desperation he replies partially choked up, "Cause it has to be," and with that the room echoes with the sound of the pendant smashing to pieces.  
  
He looks around. Nothing has changed. He tries again.  
  
"Stupid being. Thy power lied in thee amulet, but in itself not keep the world change a constant. By destroying it you have doomed yourself to this reality permanently."  
  
Giles swipes the crushed crystal's dust from the desk. He looks out in disbelief. His brief dreams of a better world and happier times shattered like the very amulet that now lie like powder upon the floor. He is now visibly shedding ears and removes his glasses to wipe them away.  
  
"And through all your greed you failed to see the way out. You could have wished for things to go back the way they were. This bed has been made by you; now you shall have to lie in it," she turns to walk off.  
  
"Please ... you can't. You must change it back. You can rectify this," Giles pleads.  
  
"I couldn't even if I wanted to. I no longer posses the power. Enjoy this," and she leaves.  
  
Giles looktocks off to the side. His mouth is agape and his eyes unblinking. He can hear the tick-tock of the grandfather clock. He starts to cry. He bangs the table with a fist; kicks the wall and shouts in a rage. He looks up and then at the kitchen.  
  
He walks over to a drawer and retrieves a long, sharp knife. He brings it about and points it at his chest. The hand holding it falls down a bit. His eyes are so teared up that in combination with the glasses, they blind him. His back hits the wall and he slouches down.  
  
He becomes choked up in breath and tears and reaims the utensil. He closes his eyes and the tears roll down his cheeks. Just before he trusts the dagger threw his heart is when his mind remembers ... Oz, Larry, Nancy and the Slayer, Buffy Summers.  
  
He drops the knife and stands up quickly.  
  
The Master spins about. A piece of his black leather shirt is torn and his mouth is covered in blood. His hands are soaked as well and drops drip off his fangs.  
  
"Well, that was fun. They really don't make killing sprees like they used to. Drat, someone has gone and tore my leather. Two-hundred dollars! I only hope that I got the little bugger," he looks around. Nothing is standing, or moving. He walks over to the dead Slayer's body and wipes his hands clean on her attire. "This scene has been played. But where there was one Slayer, there shall be a next. It is time to reconstitute my legions and devise a rapidly executable method of destruction ... and find an online retailer who'll take cash. They probably don't even make this style anymore. Hummm, perhaps eBay," he exits the building.  
  
Oz piers from behind a fallen object.  
  
Giles kicks down the door to The Bronze. Dust of dead vampires is kicked up upon the door slamming into the ground. He doesn't see anything moving. He proceeds into the club slowly; all the while making careful steps over dead bodies.  
  
His heart stops - he sees her. His breath is almost taken. His footsteps echo throughout the club as he makes his way toward her body.  
  
He bands down and gets on his knees. He feels her body; still warm to the touch. He feels with a finger on her wrist. No pulse. He frantically gives her mouth to mouth resuscitation and stops to force her heart with his hands to start.  
  
He jolts his head around upon hearing a noise approaching.  
  
"Giles," Oz lowers the wooden stake. His hair is messed up and a bloody gash runs vertically on the right side of his lips.  
  
Giles goes back to his futile attempt to bring life back to the fallen Slayer.  
  
"Giles, she's dead."  
  
"You don't know that. I have to try. We need her; very badly," he continues.  
  
"I heard her neck snap. I saw him do it. I couldn't get there in time."  
  
Giles puts his head onto Buffy's chest and cries again.  
  
"Nancy's dead. Larry is hurt. I'm not sure how badly. We have a few survivors. They need medical attention."  
  
Giles gives up. Oz helps him up and Giles dusts himself off.  
  
"She needs a proper burial. We have to contact the Watcher's Council immediately and inform them of what has happened. We can't win without a Slayer. Time is of the essence."  
  
"Whoa - back that British train up ... Watcher's Council?"  
  
"Oz, I'm afraid I have mislead you. In fact, I have lied to you all. I am a Watcher. We train Slayers. Though I have been inactive for quite some time."  
  
"You know, I'm not that surprised. Aren't all secret agents and people with double identities hailing from the Motherland?"  
  
"Yes. Have you checked them all?" asks Giles.  
  
"No. Didn't know it was safe yet until now."  
  
"Well, let's check all their pulses. Just because they aren't moving doesn't mean they're dead."  
  
"Right," Oz gets ready to do so when Giles stops him.  
  
"And Oz ... if they're gone and bitten..."  
  
"I got you," he fiddles with the stake and moves off to check people.  
  
Giles looks back upon Buffy's face.  
  
"You were somebody. May you rest in peace," and he raises a stake and rams it into her heart. 


	2. Cahpter 2

Chapter 2: "Rest and Unrest"  
  
Giles, Larry and Oz surround Buffy's grave. It bares no tombstone; just a mound of dirt.  
  
Giles looks quietly somber as he begins to speak, "Does anyone have anything to say?"  
  
Yeah, sort of," Oz pulls out a rose from his jacket, "it wasn't much, but I thought she should at least have something," he throws it down upon her grave.  
  
"I didn't know her. We were never introduced. I really can't..." Oz cuts him off.  
  
"She fought well. It was too quick; just doesn't feel right. You know?"  
  
"Yes," replies Giles, but not quite directly to Oz.  
  
"That's all I really have," Oz finishes.  
  
"I think I'll say something. This Slayer, this girl - Buffy ... is a reminder. Not of death and the inevitable forthcoming perils and danger, but rather of what's right. It's right that we try. It's right that good occasionally conquers. We don't have anything really. We struggle through one soding situation to the next with only hope and determination; for, in the long haul we would prevail. Her death is a reminder for us to keep going. For it's not right, not right at all, to have to burry two people you know in one day. Good people shouldn't die," he pulls his glasses off and slowly wipes them clean.  
  
Larry speaks up, "Sun will be gone in a hour. We should hop along. Those Watcher's people were going to, ah, call six-ish."  
  
"Watcher's Council. And you're right. You two can go on ahead. I'll be there in a minute."  
  
Oz and Larry walk off.  
  
Giles puts his glasses back on and puts his hands in his pockets.  
  
"This is one chapter that will be omitted from my journal. When I first was taught how to be a Watcher, I always envisioned I'd be perfect and never lose my Slayer. You may not have been mine, but I feel this ... this connection; a kismet in pathways. Perhaps we knew each other in the other reality. Perhaps things were better ... perhaps..."  
  
He stands in the cool breeze.  
  
All of them remain silent on the uneventful ride home. Giles stares forward, Larry looks out a window and Oz looks down at the floor board.  
  
"Here," Oz hands Giles the receiver.  
  
"Yes? This is Rupert Giles. You have? Thank god, I ... what did you mean?"  
  
Oz stands there and watchers Giles talk and see his face go from excitement to disappointment.  
  
"I don't think you seem to realize the depth of our circumstances. We're situated on a Hell Mouth. Yes, I am aware there is more than one. But the entire town has been over thrown and The Master reigns supreme. Well, how much longer do you possibly think we can wait?" he looks at Oz and then switches hands for the receiver and as turns his head away, "we are loosing. We lost two people yesterday. That's four this year alone. What the bloody hell would you have me do?! Go ahead and finish purchasing up the land around my fallen comrades?!"  
  
Larry walks in and stands by Oz.  
  
"That them?" he asks.  
  
"Shhh..." replies Oz.  
  
"Yes, I understand. Just please ... please hurry. Have a pleasant morning too. Bye," he hangs up.  
  
"What did they say?" asks Oz.  
  
"They don't have a Slayer ready. She's in Africa. They haven't even located her yet."  
  
"You said they said Africa," says Larry.  
  
"Well, they did some magicks and have a general idea of her area. Perfect, just damn well cooked up. What if she doesn't speak english? Which I guess wouldn't matter too much since they have yet to assign her a Watcher!"  
  
"We'll make do right? We always have," comments Larry.  
  
"Right, we'll just find another replacement," he sees Larry look down, "man, I'm sorry. I just meant..."  
  
"It's all right, it's ... it's fine. I know I was never part of the original group; that me and Nancy were like expendable temps."  
  
"No, it's not all right. I do believe we have precluded you inadvertently from our ... out thing, our group, our - you know, I've never really thought of exactly the name for what it is we do," says Giles.  
  
"Save the world," replies Larry.  
  
"Actually, I don't know about the world, but we save Sunnydale quite often," Oz says.  
  
"Right - we save not Sunnydale, but it's people," Giles corrects.  
  
"A few people every night," adds Oz.  
  
Giles thinks for the first time about what little they really do.  
  
"Yes. A few people," he gets up and walks to his kitchen, "and we're all on the sixth hill."  
  
Oz jokes, "Is that way it always feels like an uphill battle."  
  
Larry laughs. But he still felt awkward among Oz and Giles.  
  
"I don't know where we're going to find a replacement. All my friends avoid me like the plague. Literally, it's like I have a contagious disease, or something," says Oz.  
  
"There's this group of nerds. That kid, short one, Johnathan I think it is, they hang out together and one is way super nerdy. I think he could be finagled. Blonde hair. Kind of gay looking," comments Larry.  
  
"For now let's just concentrate on the situation at hand. The Master is obviously regrouping and likely rather pissed. You two were there. IT might be wise if you packed up your belongings and bunked over here. Strength in numbers and that sort of thing. It's best to do that now. I'll get my keys," he goes upstairs.  
  
"We are beyond screwed right? The Master is just going to come over here and kill us. Man. What do you suppose it's like in that other reality? Could it really be better?" asks Larry.  
  
"Anything is better than this," replies Oz. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: "Innocently Ominous"  
  
Oz and Larry sit side by side on the fourth row of upper seats in the class room. Both taking science at UC Sunnydale.  
  
The principal walks in. He is adorned in gray.  
  
"Ah, can I have your attention. Please, settle down. Now I am sure you've all heard of the tragic events this morning in the abandoned Bronze Club. I'd like to start first by giving my heartfelt condolences for those of you who knew April Pennywether and Nancy Gwenitch. I have to say this far too often, but, let us all bow our heads in a moment of silence."  
  
Only the plastic wall mounted clock can be heard ticking away.  
  
"All right. Charles Maywether has transferred to another city. This time class, I am proud to say you will not receive another substitute. With no further ado, here she is," he puts a hand out and in steps a middle age lady. She is wearing an overcoat and has a briefcase.  
  
"I thought I'd let you introduce yourself," say the principal to the woman.  
  
"Thank you. Class," she turns around and writes her name with chalk on the blackboard and turns around, "my name is Maggie A. Walsh. I hope to get to know you all. You can address me as sir, or Miss Walsh," she smiles a bit, "I'm sure we will have an interesting experience."  
  
-FIN- 


End file.
